Comics/BD's/strips/... you would recommend

[Peasant Phill]

I'm a very avid comic book reader (strips where I'm from) and I'm interested in which titles some of you are in to.

My favourites:

1. The third testament a French series by Dorison and Alice published by Glénat.
A series, set in medieval Europe, of 4 books each representing an evangelist in which an ex inquisitioner and the adopted daughter of the arch bishop of Paris are in a race to find the third testament which God himself has written in an attempt to prevent the end of time.

Great story telling, great art, full of intrigue and all of the characters are believable.
French fan site

2. The scorpion a French series by the Italian Enrico Marini published by Dargaud
A (so far) ongoing series set mostly in Rome during the Renaissance in which the scorpion, a man touched by the devil, finds himself in the middle of an immense power struggle. The scorpion, named after the shape of a birthmark on his shoulder which is the sign of the devil, tries to reveal his past and that of his mother which was burned on the stake, while simultaneously battling the new pope and his order of warrior monks.

Again a great story with a good pace, again a lot of intrigue and great art.
official website

3. Tyndall a Belgian series by Ken Broeders en Luc Van Peborgh published by Arboris
This series is placed in a fantasy world that closely resembles Renaissance Europe with some geographical differences and a history which includes the use of magic. There is no clear protagonist in this comic so the best I can say is that the story revolves around a magic entity and his new master. This magic entity is located somewhere that resembles the Scottish highlands in the middle of war.

A more than decent story so far although it is still forming (even after 6 comic books) it sets the board up for an epic tale, great action scenes (think musketeers facing each other alone in a thick mist), truly amazing art (each panel is almost a painting). The concept of no protagonist is also very interesting and great for the story as everyone can die.

4. Monsieur Mardi-Gras Descendres a French series by Liberge published by Dupuis
A series of 4 books set in the afterlife, the other side of the mirror. Victor Tourterelle wakes up in a chalk desert, under a sky as black as ink. No noise, not a soul. In his new state, Victor delights at still being fully aware, even more clearly than on earth. But as for his body, it is only bones. He seemed to have ended up in kafkaesque purgatory. His rebellious nature lands him in some very dangerous but possibly fulfilling situations.

The atmosphere is very immersive. The details of the world around Victor, now called Monsieur Mardi-Gras Descendres, is incredible. It contains an interesting idea about purgatory and it’s consequences. Sometimes a bit to philosophical so that the pace in the story is sometimes lacking.

click on the titles to see some pages

I've also started reading some American comics:

V for vendetta a British series by Moore and Lloyd published by Vertigo
wikipedia page

Good but outdated story with interesting ideas and some great characters, mediocre art. A lot of cultural references. The amount of text clutters the story to much IMO.
A classic which I compare to books as ‘A brave new world’ and ‘1984’.

Sandman an American series written by Neil Gaiman and published by Vertigo
wikipedia page

This should be mandatory reading in schools.

Fables an American series written by Bill Willingham and published by Vertigo
wikipedia page

I very much like the concept of Fables and most characters are rather intriguing. The art is decent but not spectacular. I believe that the story suffers under its medium. Cliff hangers every 20 so pages and a finished story arc every 5 issues or so doesn’t leave much room for story development.


So which comic series would you recommend to others and why?

[Stig]

Everyone should have read Gaston Lagaffe/Guust Flater at some point of their life, if you haven't you sure have missed something.
In my opinion it's the best comic, drawings and text ever made.
Official site (in French ofcourse):
http://www.gastonlagaffe.com/

Next to that it's ofcourse Suske en Wiske. I'm not really a fan of it, in my opinion it's a bit too childish, but it's damned good as well.
Official site (obviously in Dutch, erhh Flemish)
http://www.suskeenwiske.be/

I'm also a great fan of Turk en De Groot and their comics Robin, Leonard and Clifton. They don't have a site however.

And finally I would recommend Gilles de Geus, a Dutch comic about the 80 years war, pretty funny as well.


Or you could look at the drawings I make myself:

[edyzmedieval]

I'll go the American way, and I'll say Garfield.
www.garfield.com

[sapi]

For the geeks among us who've played HL2, Concerned is a must read

[Ramses II CP]

My wife is a fan of : http://xkcd.com/

Personally I miss the Dysfunctional Family Circus.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Pearls Before Swine, while poorly-drawn, is easily the funniest thing to come out of the comics pages since Calvin and Hobbes.

[Conradus]

Whenever I'm online I try to read some of ctrl+alt/del
As for real comics I like Garfield, Gaston Lagaffe, The Scorpion, The Hawk, XIII, Storm and Thorgal.

[Ice]

Marmaduke

[Stig]

Storm is quite good, read them in the Eppo's I have (pitely enough I don't have everyone, sometimes I miss one).

[shlin28]

Well, I think Order of the Stick is quite good as long as you have some knowledge about D&D
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots.html

And a bigger comic book I would recommend is Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick, very funny and informative! (Whoever told you history cant be funny is wrong!)

[lars573]

I stopped buying them a few years ago. But there are some standouts that I can still read and enjoy.

Batman: Year one. Written by Frank Miller (of 300 and Sin City fame). It's Batman's origin decompressed into 1 year. It's told from two points of view, Bruce Wayne and James Gordon. It follows them both as their first year (in Bruce's case first after finishing training) in Gotham unfolds. Miller also gives a legit reason as to why a straight shooter like Jim Gordon would put any trust in a whako dressed like a bat too. And the movie "Batman begins" was based heavily on this story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Year_One

The Punisher (Marvel knights mini-series and regular series, plus the Marvel MAX series). Written by Garth Ennis, who is an insane Scotsman (he has a personal quest to use morbidly obses men as causes of death). The Marvel Knigths mini and regular series was littered with black comedy and absurdity. Which I love. The MAX series (the ones I have anyway) had a much realistic bent (interms of the world it occupied and violence).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher#Earth-928

Kingdom come. Is about the end of Superman's generation of heroes. And quite a few of the children and grand-children of the heroes that came before. Has a bunch of biblical imagery, mostly from Revelations. The highlight of the series is Superman and Captain Marvel trying to beat each other to death. And Captain Marvel nearly winning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Come_(comic)

Astro city. An anthology title set in the city the book takes it's name from. Very well written Kurt Busiek tries to make every character (superpowered or not) seem as real and fully formed as possible. A stand out story line is Confession. About, The confessor, a superhero in the brooding vigilante (Batman Daredevil) archtype. The type of character who usually try and appear as a supernatural creature. Twist with The Confessor is he actually is a supernatural creature, a vampire. He wears a cross on his chest to cause him enough pain that he won't attack people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_City

[Kralizec]

For the geeks among us who've played HL2, Concerned is a must read

I know that one (despite never having played Half Life 1 or 2), but didn't that comic end months ago?

[Peasant Phill]

Everyone should have read Gaston Lagaffe/Guust Flater at some point of their life, if you haven't you sure have missed something.

I have to agree. When it to comedy, there are few that I know of that are in the same league.
I'm not a fan of Suske en Wiske at all (wikipedia page they are childrens books in art, story and humour.

I'm not really familiair with the other comics Stig mentioned other than knowing what the art looks like. BTW nice drawing.

I'll go the American way, and I'll say Garfield.

I used to love Garfield, but if you follow the cartoon long enough it gets boring. I still read Garfiel every day (in my newspaper) but he hasn't had an original joke in some years now.

Pearls Before Swine, while poorly-drawn, is easily the funniest thing to come out of the comics pages since Calvin and Hobbes.

That's not badly drawn, it's very simplistic but that's a style rather then a lack of skill. 'xkcd' drawing style, you can't really call it a style, however is lack of skill or effort.

As for real comics I like Garfield, Gaston Lagaffe, The Scorpion, The Hawk, XIII, Storm and Thorgal.

I know Storm, Thorgal and XIII but I didn't really got into them. They are however to be recommended to others.
I can't say I know 'The hawk' unless it is 'de aasgieren' which I flipped through but didn't buy.

Well, I think Order of the Stick is quite good as long as you have some knowledge about D&D

And a bigger comic book I would recommend is Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick, very funny and informative! (Whoever told you history cant be funny is wrong!)

I actually read OOTS and although I have almost no knowledge about D&D it is still enjoyable. I know the art is crap but it works well in this comic IMHO.

I stopped buying them a few years ago. But there are some standouts that I can still read and enjoy: Batman, the Punisher, Kingdom come, Astro city

I was always (when I recently looked for some good American comics) told that 'The Dark Knight Returns' was the Batman book to read.
I don't know enough about the rest as I tend to avoid comics about superhero's especially Marvel and DC superhero comics. There seems, to me, to much marketing involved in something that should be purely creative.

[Pannonian]

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki (the film director). His films are great, but his Nausicaa manga is better, much better.

[sapi]

I know that one (despite never having played Half Life 1 or 2), but didn't that comic end months ago?

Yep, but it's still worth a read for those who haven't

[Fragony]

Thorgal, awesome scandinavian series. Incredible drawings and very good stories.

[R'as al Ghul]

I'm an avid comic reader myself and I've enjoyed many different styles over the ca. 30 years that I'm into this medium. Therefore I've many different favourites. If I'm hard pressed I'd always choose Corto Maltese as the best series/character ever. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corto_Maltese
I've seldom encountered another narrative work where the secondary characters are so full of life and detail. Hugo Pratt is a master of storytelling and accomplishes this through little gestures and small sentences.
If any narrative truely fueled my imagination it's Corto Maltese.

[Conradus]

I can't say I know 'The hawk' unless it is 'de aasgieren' which I flipped through but didn't buy.

In Dutch, the series is called 'De Havik' so I could've translated it wrong; all those birds sound the same to me. So actually Sparrow would be a better translation.

And Thorgal's part a Belgian comic.

[Peasant Phill]

I haven't read much of Corto Maltese, but I very much liked what I read. I also have a DVD of one of the stories: 'Corto Maltese in Syberia'.

Fragony, I know you meant that the story takes place in Scandinavia but the comic itself is half Polish (artist) and half Belgian (story writer)

[Peasant Phill]

In Dutch, the series is called 'De Havik' so I could've translated it wrong; all those birds sound the same to me

I haven't heard of it. Is it Dutch? Could you provide a link or some artwork?

[Conradus]

The first cycle was concluded one or two years ago, I don't know whether they'll continue to publish it, but I liked the story. It's based on a Breton Privateer who's arrested for the murder on some count.I think the author's French, though it's published by Dupuis.

De Havik/Sparrow?

[Stig]

Why haven't I mentioned Asterix and Obelix? I prefer the Goscinny written albums ... and some of the early Uderzo ones.

[Conradus]

Stig's right, how could anyone forget Asterix et Obelix?

[lars573]

I was always (when I recently looked for some good American comics) told that 'The Dark Knight Returns' was the Batman book to read.
I don't know enough about the rest as I tend to avoid comics about superhero's especially Marvel and DC superhero comics. There seems, to me, to much marketing involved in something that should be purely creative.

I never read the Dark Knight returns. But I have year one, so I can speak on that.

Now on US superheroes. Judging by what you said you might try Astro city. It's Kurt Buisek's baby. He created and co-owns all the characters in the series. It stopped for almost a year cause he was seriously ill. It goes as long as he wants it too. He has total freedom in what goes into the stories. Punisher is enjoyable cause Garth Ennis is good at what does. Sometimes he uses Punisher as a soap box (the two Northern Irish based stories prove that). And he also uses Punisher to take the wizz out of superheroes. Like the guest starring roles of Daredevil, Spider-man, and Wolverine.

[Kekvit Irae]

Turn Signals On A Land Raider
An excellent webcomic for people who play Warhammer 40k, as seen through the lives of the little plastic minis.

Camelot Addict
Mostly only for people who play Dark Age of Camelot, but also has a lot of similarities with other MMORPGs such as WoW and EQ.

I would recommend Garfield... if it was 1990. The jokes are old, stale, and not funny. Calvin & Hobbes, while making many of us sad, did us a service by stopping production before it got stale. Every comic in C&H was fresh and entertaining.

[Stig]

Must say, I don't really like all those computer made comics, they lack the feel of handdrawn comics. Comics which need 20 version before even coming close to the final drawing, the difficulties of drawing and most importantly colouring with paint. And most importantly the colours paint creates.

[Martok]

For "regular" comic strips you find in the newspaper, I like Dilbert, Doonesbury, and Zits. I stopped reading Garfield about 3 years ago, for the reasons everyone else has already mentioned (stale, unoriginal, etc.). And of course, I -- like many people here -- am a big fan of Calvin & Hobbes. It's the only strip for which I have all the books.

As for online webcomics, I check out a lot of the major gaming strips, including Penny Arcade, Dork Tower, PVP, and Ctrl+Alt+Delete. And thanks to currywurry, I'm also a fan of Questionable Content; it's not for everyone, but I definitely get my chuckles from it.

Far and away, however, my favorite comic (online or paper) is the Order of the Stick. Anyone who's ever been a D&D fan -- and even many who haven't -- can appreciate this one.

[Lemur]

On a more serious note:

[Mikeus Caesar]

Thanks Martok for pointing out QC. I seem to have turned a lot of .Orgahs into fans of it.

Another good comic i didn't notice mentioned is Dr McNinja. Utterly bizarre, and for those of you who like hand-drawn things, it's nearly all done by hand, very little use of computers.

http://drmcninja.com/index.html

[Yawning Angel]

I quite like this one, some combination of D & D and Lord of the Rings Geekiness, but quite funny in places.